Majid Bekkas

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Majid Bekkas (* 1957 in Salé as Abdelmajid Bekkas ) is a Moroccan musician ( oud , gimbri , but also vocals and guitar ) who has made international appearances in both world music and jazz .

Madjid Bekkas, Africa Festival Würzburg 2015
Majid Bekkas, Aarhus, Denmark 2011

Live and act

Bekkas grew up mostly in Zagora ; he comes from a Gnawa family. As a teenager he played banjo in Jil groups such as Nass El Ghiwane . Since 1975 he has studied classical guitar and oud at the Conservatory for Music and Dance in Rabat . He was instructed in Gnawa music by Ba Houmane. From 1981 to 1983 he worked in various administrative positions. After his first experiences with his own bands in the 1980s, he founded his trio Gnaoua Blues Band in 1990 , which he tried to relate blues and gnawa music to one another. In the next few years he also incorporated elements of jazz and played with numerous jazz musicians. (Among others with Louis Sclavis , Archie Shepp , Randy Weston , Peter Brötzmann , Joachim Kühn or Hamid Drake ). Since 1996 he has been artistic director of the Jazz au Chellah festival in Rabat .

Bekkas performed with great success at international festivals such as WOMEX Seville 2003, Grenoble Jazz Festival or Schloss Elmau as a soloist, in a trio or in world music projects. Ramón López invited him in 2002 to work on his tribute album for Roland Kirk . In 2006 he founded a trio with Joachim Kühn and Ramón López, which released its fifth album in August 2013. With Klaus Doldinger and Passport he first appeared in Morocco in 2006, which has since been followed by repeated appearances in Germany. Furthermore, Bekkas also recorded tracks with the German jazz musicians Chris Hinze and Uwe Kropinski .

Prizes and awards

With the title “ Daymallah ”, Bekkas is featured on the collective CD Desert Blues 2 , which was voted the best compilation of 2002 by leading music journalists and producers for the renowned Roots magazine. In 2004 he received the Django d'Or for his album Mogador (with Flavio Boltro ) . The album Passport to Morocco by Klaus Doldinger's band Passport , in which he played a major role as a guest musician and composer, received a German Jazz Award in 2009 due to its sales figures . In 2010, Bekkas was awarded the Al Farabi Prize by the Comité National de la Musique in Morocco for his efforts in Moroccan music.

Discographic notes

  • African Gnaoua Blues , with Rachid Zeroual, Khalid Kouhen, Paolo Radoni and Marc Lelangue (IglooMondo, 2001)
  • Nomad Spirit , with Abaji, Djivan Gasparian , Ramesh Shotham (Network, 2005)
  • Passport to Morocco, as a guest musician of the band Passport with Klaus Doldinger a. a., (Warner 2006)
  • Kalimba , with Joachim Kühn and Ramón López (Act Records, 2007)
  • Marula in All with Uwe Kropinski , Michael Heupel , Aly Keïta (Morgenland Records, 2008)
  • Out of the Desert , with Joachim Kühn and Ramón López (Act Records, 2009)
  • Makemba , with Louis Sclavis , Minino Garay , Aly Keïta, Serge Marne, Abdelfettah Houssaini, Abdessadek Bounhar, Rachid el Fadli, Joseph Bessam Kouassi, (IglooMondo, 2010)
  • Chalaba , with Joachim Kühn and Ramón López (Act Records, 2011)
  • Mabrouk , with Ablaye Cissoko and Khalid Kouhen (Bee Jazz, 2013)
  • Magic Spirit Quartet , with Goran Kajfeš , Jesper Nordenström and Stefan Pasborg (Act Records, 2020)

Documentaries

literature

  • Tobias Richtsteig, Majid Bekkas: I have to bring this mixture together Jazz Podium 2/2011: 30

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Aujourd'hui le Maroc , August 18, 2008  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.aujourdhui.ma  
  2. ↑ Johannes Zink: A happy landing: Klaus Doldinger proves class in the Philharmonie. Retrieved May 13, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Maghress: Django D'Or pour Majid Bekkas
  4. ^ Prix ​​"Al Farabi": Majid Bekkas: "L'African Gnaoua Blues". In: ALBAYANE. December 13, 2010, accessed on May 13, 2020 (Fri-FR).
  5. ^ Klaus Doldinger's Passport * - Passport To Morocco. Retrieved May 13, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Nordic jazz meets Gnawa chants (Jazz CD of the week; NDR)
personal data
SURNAME Bekkas, Majid
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bekkas, Abdelmajid
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Moroccan musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Salé